Door opening and closing apparatus, transfer apparatus, and storage container opening method

Abstract

A door opening and closing apparatus includes: a frame that structures part of a wall surface of a transfer room and is provided with an opening for opening the transfer room; a door part capable of opening and closing the opening: a placing pedestal on which a storage container can be placed; a chamber provided at a position on the transfer room side so as to face the opening, and having an inner space to be subjected to a purge process with an environmental gas; and a pressure adjusting part causing the inner space of the chamber and the inner space of the storage container to communicate with each other using a route other than the opening. The door opening and closing apparatus can be applied to a wafer transfer apparatus or the like.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001](1) Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a door opening and closing apparatus having a chamber disposed in an adjacent transfer room, a transfer apparatus having the door opening and closing apparatus, and a storage container opening method.[0003](2) Description of Related Art[0004]In a semiconductor manufacturing process, wafers are processed in a clean room for improving yields and quality. However, with today's highly integrated devices, miniaturized circuitry, and wafers of increased sizes, it has been becoming difficult to manage fine dust in the entire clean room, in terms of both costs and techniques. Therefore, in recent years, “the minienvironment system” is employed replacing the method for improving the cleanliness of the entire clean room. In the minienvironment system, the cleanliness of only a local space around wafers is improved, and processes of transferring wafers and others are performed. In the minienvironm...

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Benefits of technology

[0022]With such a storage container opening method, in the structure in which the chamber is disposed on the transfer room side and the inner space of the chamber is subjected to the purge process with the environmental gas in order to reduce the space with which the inner space of the storage container communicates when the storage container is opened to thereby maintain the purge concentration in the storage container, after the pressure is adjusted by pressure adjusting process, the lid part is shifted together with the door part, and the inner space of the storage container is opened to the inner space of the chamber via the opening of the frame. Thus, the above-described operation and effect can be obtained, and the opening process can be carried out smoothly and properly. Further, rising of particles or displacement of the transfer target object in the storage container attributed to the shock associated with the opening process can be prevente

Problems solved by technology

However, with today's highly integrated devices, miniaturized circuitry, and wafers of increased sizes, it has been becoming difficult to manage fine dust in the entire clean room, in terms of both costs and techniques.

Further, when the pressure of the inner space of the chamber becomes higher than the pressure of the inner space of the storage container, the force acting in the direction pressing the door part against the storage container becomes great.

As a result, there arises a problem that the storage container opening process cannot be smoothly and properly carried out, or the door part and the lid part

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